ACT FOURTH.

Mrs. Stockmann.

Don’t give in, Thomas. I'll ask the boys to go with you.

Dr. Stockmann.

That’s a splendid idea!

Mrs. Stockmann.

Morten will be delighted; and Eilif will go too, I daresay.

Dr. Stockmann.

Yes, and so will Petra! And you yourself, Katrina!

Mrs. Stockmann.

No no, not I. But I'll stand at the window and watch you—that I will.

Dr. Stockmann.

[Throwing his arms about her and kissing her.] Thank you for that! Now, my good sirs, we’re ready for the fight! Now we shall see whether your despicable tactics can stop the mouth of the patriot who wants to purge society!

[He and his wife go out together by the door in the back, left.

Burgomaster.

[Shaking his head dubiously.] Now he has turnedherhead too!

ACT FOURTH.

A large old-fashioned room inCaptain Horster’shouse. An open folding-door in the background leads to an anteroom. In the wall on the left are three windows. About the middle of the opposite wall is a platform, and on it a small table, two candles, a water-bottle and glass, and a bell. For the rest, the room is lighted by sconces placed between the windows. In front, on the left, is a table with a candle on it, and by it a chair. In front, to the right, a door, and near it a few chairs.

Large assemblage of all classes of townsfolk. In the crowd are a few women and schoolboys. More and more people gradually stream in from the back until the room is quite full.

First Citizen.

[To another standing near him.] So you’re here too, Lamstad?

Second Citizen.

I never miss a public meeting.

A Bystander.

Isuppose you’ve brought your whistle?

Second Citizen.

Of course I have; haven’t you?

Third Citizen.

I should think so. And Skipper Evensen said he’d bring a thumping big horn.

Second Citizen.

He’s a good ’un, is Evensen!

[Laughter in the group.

A Fourth Citizen.

[Joining them.] I say, what’s it all about? What’s going on here to-night?

Second Citizen.

Why, it’s Dr. Stockmann that’s going to lecture against the Burgomaster.

Fourth Citizen.

But the Burgomaster’s his brother.

First Citizen.

That makes no difference. Dr. Stockmann’s not afraid of him.

Third Citizen.

But he’s all wrong; thePeople’s Messengersays so.

Second Citizen.

Yes, he must be wrong this time; for neither the House-owners’ Association nor the Citizens' Club would let him have a hall.

First Citizen.

They wouldn’t even lend him the hall at the Baths.

Second Citizen.

No, you may be sure they wouldn’t.

A Man.

[In another group.] Now, who’s the one to follow in this business, eh?

Another Man.

[In the same group.] Just keep your eye on Aslaksen, and do as he does.

Billing.

[With a portfolio under his arm, makes his way through the crowd.] Excuse me, gentlemen. Will you allow me to pass? I'm here to report for thePeople’s Messenger. Many thanks.

[Sits by the table on the left.

A Working-man.

Who’s he?

Another Working-man.

Don’t you know him? It’s that fellow Billing, that writes for Aslaksen’s paper.

Captain Horsterenters by the door in front on the right, escortingMrs. StockmannandPetra.EilifandMortenfollow them.

Horster.

This is where I thought you might sit: you can so easily slip out if anything should happen.

Mrs. Stockmann.

Do you think there will be any disturbance?

Horster.

One can never tell—with such a crowd. But there’s no occasion for anxiety.

Mrs. Stockmann.

[Sitting down.] How kind it was of you to offer Stockmann this room.

Horster.

Since no one else would, I——

Petra.

[Who has also seated herself.] And it was brave too, Captain Horster.

Horster.

Oh, I don’t see where the bravery comes in.

HovstadandAslaksenenter at the same moment, but make their way through the crowd separately.

Aslaksen.

[Going up toHorster.] Hasn’t the Doctor come yet?

Horster.

He’s waiting in there.

[A movement at the door in the background.

Hovstad.

[ToBilling.] There’s the Burgomaster! Look!

Billing.

Yes, strike me dead if he hasn’t put in an appearance after all!

Burgomaster Stockmannmakes his way blandly through the meeting, bowing politely to both sides, and takes his stand by the wall on the left. Soon afterwards,Dr. Stockmannenters by the door on the right. He wears a black frock-coat and white necktie. Faint applause, met by a subdued hissing. Then silence.

Dr. Stockmann.

[In a low tone.] How do you feel, Katrina?

Mrs. Stockmann.

Quite comfortable, thank you. [In a low voice.] Now do keep your temper, Thomas.

Dr. Stockmann.

Oh, I shall keep myself well in hand. [Looks at his watch, ascends the platform, and bows.] It’s a quarter past the hour, so I shall begin——

[Takes out his MS.

Aslaksen.

But surely a chairman must be elected first.

Dr. Stockmann.

No, that’s not at all necessary.

Several Gentlemen.

[Shouting.] Yes, yes.

Burgomaster.

I should certainly say that a chairman ought to be elected.

Dr. Stockmann.

But I've called this meeting to give a lecture, Peter!

Burgomaster.

Dr. Stockmann’s lecture may possibly lead to differences of opinion.

Several Voices in the Crowd.

A chairman! A chairman!

Hovstad.

The general voice of the meeting seems to be for a chairman!

Dr. Stockmann.

[Controlling himself.] Very well then; let the meeting have its way.

Aslaksen.

Will not the Burgomaster take the chair?

Three Gentlemen.

[Clapping.] Bravo! Bravo!

Burgomaster.

For reasons you will easily understand, I must decline. But, fortunately, we have among us one whom I think we can all accept. I allude to the president of the House-owners' Association, Mr. Aslaksen.

Many Voices.

Yes, yes! Bravo Aslaksen! Hurrah for Aslaksen!

[Dr. Stockmanntakes his MS. and descends from the platform.

Aslaksen.

Since my fellow citizens repose this trust in me,Icannot refuse——

[Applause and cheers.Aslaksenascends the platform.

Billing.

[Writing.] So—“Mr. Aslaksen was elected by acclamation——”

Aslaksen.

And now, as I have been called to the chair, I take the liberty of saying a few brief words. I am a quiet, peace-loving man; I am in favour of discreet moderation, and of—and of moderatediscretion. Every one who knows me, knows that.

Many Voices.

Yes, yes, Aslaksen!

Aslaksen.

I have learnt in the school of life and of experience that moderation is the virtue in which the individual citizen finds his best advantage——

Burgomaster.

Hear, hear!

Aslaksen.

——and it is discretion and moderation, too, that best serve the community. I could therefore suggest to our respected fellow citizen, who has called this meeting, that he should endeavour to keep within the bounds of moderation.

A Man.

[By the door.] Three cheers for the Temperance Society!

A Voice.

Go to the devil!

Voices.

Hush! hush!

Aslaksen.

No interruptions, gentlemen!—Does any one wish to offer any observations?

Burgomaster.

Mr. Chairman!

Aslaksen.

Burgomaster Stockmann will address the meeting.

Burgomaster.

On account of my close relationship—of which you are probably aware—to the present medical officer of the Baths, I should have preferred not to speak here this evening. But my position as chairman of the Baths, and my care for the vital interests of this town, force me to move a resolution. I may doubtless assume that not a single citizen here present thinks it desirable that untrustworthy and exaggerated statements should get abroad as to the sanitary condition of the Baths and of our town.

Many Voices.

No, no, no! Certainly not! Weprotest!protest!

Burgomaster.

I therefore beg to move, “That this meeting declines to hear the proposed lecture or speech on the subject by the medical officer of the Baths.”

Dr. Stockmann.

[Flaring up.] Declines to hear——! What do you mean?

Mrs. Stockmann.

[Coughing.] H'm! h’m!

Dr. Stockmann.

[Controlling himself.] So I am not to be heard?

Burgomaster.

In my statement in thePeople’s MessengerI have made the public acquainted with the essential facts, so that all well-disposed citizens can easily form their own judgment. From that statementit will be seen that the medical officer’s proposal—besides amounting to a vote of censure upon the leading men of the town—at bottom only means saddling the ratepayers with an unnecessary outlay of at least a hundred thousand crowns.

[Sounds of protest and some hissing.

Aslaksen.

[Ringing the bell.] Order, gentlemen! I must beg leave to support the Burgomaster’s resolution. I quite agree with him that there is something beneath the surface of the Doctor’s agitation. In all his talk about the Baths, it is really a revolution he is aiming at; he wants to effect a redistribution of power. No one doubts the excellence of Dr. Stockmann’s intentions—of course there cannot be two opinions as to that. I, too, am in favour of self-government by the people, if only it doesn’t cost the ratepayers too much. But in this case it would do so; and therefore I'll be hanged if—excuse me—in short, I cannot go with Dr. Stockmann upon this occasion. You can buy even gold too dear; that’s my opinion.

[Loud applause on all sides.

Hovstad.

I, too feel bound to explain my attitude. Dr. Stockmann’s agitation seemed at first to find favour in several quarters, and I supported it as impartially as I could. But it presently appeared that we had been misled by a false representation of the facts——

Dr. Stockmann.

False——!

Hovstad.

Well then, an untrustworthy representation.This the Burgomaster’s report has proved. I trust no one here present doubts my liberal principles; the attitude of theMessengeron all great political questions is well known to you all. But I have learned from men of judgment and experience that in purely local matters a paper must observe a certain amount of caution.

Aslaksen.

I entirely agree with the speaker.

Hovstad.

And in the matter under discussion it is quite evident that Dr. Stockmann has public opinion against him. But, gentlemen, what is an editor’s clearest and most imperative duty? Is it not to work in harmony with his readers? Has he not in some sort received a tacit mandate to further assiduously and unweariedly the interests of his constituents? Or am I mistaken in this?

Many Voices.

No, no, no! Hovstad is right!

Hovstad.

It has cost me a bitter struggle to break with a man in whose house I have of late been a frequent guest—with a man who, up to this day, has enjoyed the unqualified goodwill of his fellow citizens—with a man whose only, or, at any rate, whose chief fault is that he consults his heart rather than his head.

A Few Scattered Voices.

That’s true! Hurrah for Dr. Stockmann!

Hovstad.

But my duty towards the community has constrained me to break with him. Then, too, there is another consideration that impels me to oppose him, and, if possible, to block the ill-omened path upon which he is entering: consideration for his family——

Dr. Stockmann.

Keep to the water-works and sewers!

Hovstad.

——consideration for his wife and his unprotected[12]children.

Morten.

Is that us, mother?

Mrs. Stockmann.

Hush!

Aslaksen.

I will now put the Burgomaster’s resolution to the vote.

Dr. Stockmann.

You need not. I have no intention of saying anything this evening of all the filth at the Baths. No! You shall hear something quite different.

Burgomaster.

[Half aloud.] What next, I wonder?

A Drunken Man.

[At the main entrance.] I'm a ratepayer, so I've a right to my opinion! And it’s my full, firm, incomprehensible opinion that——

Several Voices.

Silence up there!

Others.

He’s drunk! Turn him out!

[The drunken man is turned out.

Dr. Stockmann.

Can I speak?

Aslaksen.

[Ringing the bell.] Dr. Stockmann will address the meeting.

Dr. Stockmann.

A few days ago, I should have liked to see any one venture upon such an attempt to gag me as has been made here to-night! I would have fought like a lion for my sacred rights! But now I care little enough; for now I have more important things to speak of.

[The people crowd closer round him.Morten Kiilcomes in sight among the bystanders.

Dr. Stockmann.

[Continuing.] I have been pondering a great many things during these last days—thinking such a multitude of thoughts, that at last my head was positively in a whirl——

Burgomaster.

[Coughing.] H'm——!

Dr. Stockmann.

But presently things seemed to straighten themselves out, and I saw them clearly in alltheir bearings. That is why I stand here this evening. I am about to make great revelations, my fellow citizens! I am going to announce to you a far-reaching discovery, beside which the trifling fact that our water-works are poisoned, and that our health-resort is built on pestilential ground, sinks into insignificance.

Many Voices.

[Shouting.] Don’t speak about the Baths! We won’t listen to that! No more of that!

Dr. Stockmann.

I have said I would speak of the great discovery I have made within the last few days—the discovery that all our sources of spiritual life are poisoned, and that our whole society rests upon a pestilential basis of falsehood.

Several Voices.

[In astonishment and half aloud.] What’s he saying?

Burgomaster.

Such an insinuation——!

Aslaksen.

[With his hand on the bell.] I must call upon the speaker to moderate his expressions.

Dr. Stockmann.

I have loved my native town as dearly as any man can love the home of his childhood. I was young when I left our town, and distance, home-sickness and memory threw, as it were, a glamour over the place and its people.

[Some applause and cries of approval.

Dr. Stockmann.

Then for years I was imprisoned in a horrible hole, far away in the north. As I went about among the people scattered here and there over the stony wilderness, it seemed to me, many a time, that it would have been better for these poor famishing creatures to have had a cattle-doctor to attend them, instead of a man like me.

[Murmurs in the room.

Billing.

[Laying down his pen.] Strike me dead if I've ever heard——!

Hovstad.

What an insult to an estimable peasantry!

Dr. Stockmann.

Wait a moment!—I don’t think any one can reproach me with forgetting my native town up there. I sat brooding like an eider duck, and what I hatched was—the plan of the Baths.

[Applause and expressions of dissent.

Dr. Stockmann.

And when, at last, fate ordered things so happily that I could come home again—then, fellow citizens, it seemed to me that I hadn’t another desire in the world. Yes, one desire I had: an eager, constant, burning desire to be of service to my birthplace, and to its people.

Burgomaster.

[Gazing into vacancy.] A strange method to select——!

Dr. Stockmann.

So I went about revelling in my happy illusions.But yesterday morning—no, it was really two nights ago—my mind’s eyes were opened wide, and the first thing I saw was the colossal stupidity of the authorities——

[Noise, cries, and laughter.Mrs. Stockmanncoughs repeatedly.

Burgomaster.

Mr. Chairman!

Aslaksen.

[Ringing his bell.] In virtue of my position——!

Dr. Stockmann.

It’s petty to catch me up on a word, Mr. Aslaksen! I only mean that I became alive to the extraordinary muddle our leading men had been guilty of, down at the Baths. I cannot for the life of me abide leading men—I've seen enough of them in my time. They are like goats in a young plantation: they do harm at every point; they block the path of a free man wherever he turns—and I should be glad if we could exterminate them like other noxious animals——

[Uproar in the room.

Burgomaster.

Mr. Chairman, are such expressions permissible?

Aslaksen.

[With his hand on the bell.] Dr. Stockmann——

Dr. Stockmann.

I can’t conceive how it is that I have only now seen through these gentry; for haven’t I had a magnificent example before my eyes here everyday—my brother Peter—slow of understanding, tenacious in prejudice——

[Laughter, noise, and whistling.Mrs. Stockmanncoughs.Aslaksenrings violently.

The Drunken Man.

[Who has come in again.] Is it me you’re alluding to? Sure enough, my name’s Petersen; but devil take me if——

Angry Voices.

Out with that drunken man! Turn him out!

[The man is again turned out.

Burgomaster.

Who is that person?

A Bystander.

I don’t know him, Burgomaster.

Another.

He doesn’t belong to the town.

A Third.

I believe he’s a timber-dealer from——

[The rest is inaudible.

Aslaksen.

The man was evidently intoxicated.—Continue, Dr. Stockmann; but pray endeavour to be moderate.

Dr. Stockmann.

Well, fellow citizens, I shall say no more about our leading men. If any one imagines, from what I have just said, that it’s these gentlemen I want to make short work of to-night, he is mistaken—altogether mistaken. For I cherish the comfortableconviction that these laggards, these relics of a decaying order of thought, are diligently cutting their own throats. They need no doctor to hasten their end. And it is not people ofthatsort that constitute the real danger to society; it is not they who are most active in poisoning the sources of our spiritual life and making a plague-spot of the ground beneath our feet; it is nottheywho are the most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom in our society.

Cries from All Sides.

Who, then? Who is it? Name, name!

Dr. Stockmann.

Yes, you may be sure I shall name them! Forthisis the great discovery I made yesterday: [In a louder tone.] The most dangerous foe to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact majority. Yes, it’s the confounded, compact, liberal majority—that, and nothing else! There, I've told you.

[Immense disturbance in the room. Most of the audience are shouting, stamping, and whistling. Several elderly gentlemen exchange furtive glances and seem to be enjoying the scene.Mrs. Stockmannrises in alarm.EilifandMortenadvance threateningly towards the school-boys, who are making noises.Aslaksenrings the bell and calls for order.HovstadandBillingboth speak, but nothing can be heard. At last quiet is restored.

Aslaksen.

I must request the speaker to withdraw his ill-considered expressions.

Dr. Stockmann.

Never, Mr. Aslaksen! For it’s this very majority that robs me of my freedom, and wants to forbid me to speak the truth.

Hovstad.

The majority always has right on its side.

Billing.

Yes, and truth too, strike me dead!

Dr. Stockmann.

The majority never has right on its side. Never I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who make up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible, overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But how in the devil’s name can it ever be right for the fools to rule over the wise men?[Uproar and yells.

Dr. Stockmann.

Yes, yes, you can shout me down, but you cannot gainsay me. The majority hasmight—unhappily—butrightit has not. It is I, and the few, the individuals, that are in the right. The minority is always right.[Renewed uproar.

Hovstad.

Ha ha! Dr. Stockmann has turned aristocrat since the day before yesterday!

Dr. Stockmann.

I have said that I have no words to waste on the little, narrow-chested, short-winded crew that lie in our wake. Pulsating life has nothing moreto do with them. I am speaking of the few, the individuals among us, who have made all the new, germinating truths their own. These men stand, as it were, at the outposts, so far in the van that the compact majority has not yet reached them—andtherethey fight for truths that are too lately born into the world’s consciousness to have won over the majority.

Hovstad.

So the Doctor’s a revolutionist now!

Dr. Stockmann.

Yes, by Heaven, I am, Mr. Hovstad! I am going to revolt against the lie that truth belongs exclusively to the majority. What sort of truths do the majority rally round? Truths so stricken in years that they are sinking into decrepitude. When a truth is so old as that, gentlemen, it’s in a fair way to become a lie.

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